Taken Hostage
by commander beef
Summary: Lan and freinds are all in 10th grade and about 15 years old. It's a LanMaylu story, they'vbe been dating for a lttle over a year. World Three's recently come back, and they have a tendency to attack and ruin things during these times of peace.
1. Default Chapter

This fan-fic takes place when all of Lan's gang is 15. It's a Maylu-Lan story, so it's fun to read: (no offense against other writers!). WWW's been going on for some while again, after remaining inactive for almost a year and a half. Have fun!  
  
Chapter I: the world crumbles  
  
Lan rushed into his 10th-grade class, "Sorry I'm late, Mr. Macaulay!" Quickly, Lan sat down next to Maylu. Once he sat down, he raised his head and looked as if he hadn't done anything.  
Mr. Macaulay, who was used to Lan's lateness, only raised his eyebrows and returned drawing figures on the board.  
Lan looked over at Maylu, who winked. Lan winked back, smiling. Lan and Maylu had been dating for a little over a year, shortly after the fall of World Three. They both knew they were the ones they'd be spending the rest of their lives with, but mostly they kept it to themselves.  
Maylu, who was usually the perfect student, sent him an email shortly after.  
  
"Hey, how come you were late? Is everything okay? Meet me by the gates  
during lunch.  
I love you,  
-Maylu"  
  
Lan looked back at Maylu and nodded, grinning slightly. Last year, Lan had been struggling with his schoolwork. He suspected he'd still be stuck in the same mental pit if it weren't for Maylu. He had always kept this to himself, but he had been a little depressed over the past 3 years. Maylu changed his life, and he owed everything to her.  
Lunch came quickly. Lan slipped unnoticed outside, snapped on his roller-blades, and skated over to the entrance gates. Maylu arrived shortly after.  
"Hey, I'm surprised to see you here before me." She smiled. Lan knew she was playing with him: it was her way of showing affection in public places. She came over to him and hugged him, Lan brushing her hair over her ears. He gently held her hands. Maylu giggled.  
"So, what's up?" Lan asked.  
"Nothing really." She said, I just worry about you, that's all.  
This time, Lan smiled. "I don't know why, I've always been okay. You know that."  
Maylu put one of her hands into Lan's front-left pocket. "Oh yeah? What about the time when you were an hour late and had two skinned knees and a bleeding leg? I almost passed out then.  
"I told you. It was a dog. I didn't want to hit it so I---"  
Maylu put her other hand's finger to his lips, and whispered "I know, I know" and kissed him lightly on the lips.  
She then turned, winked at him, and set off for lunch.  
"Damn. I hate when she does that: gets me all worried and turns out she the one that's worried instead." He grinned broadly, feeling up to brim with affection and care, and bladed back to school so he could eat.  
School seemed to come to a close almost instantly. He found Dex, Yai, and Maylu waiting for him at the gates. Dex, who was always jealous of Lan, tried to taunt him as he regularly did.  
"Hey Lan! What'd you get on that Algebra test, huh?  
Lan smiled at Dex. "A 95%, how 'bout you?"  
Dex seemed crest-fallen and tried to change the subject. "Um, well, how about that Science test then? I got a freakin' 90%, baby!"  
"I got a 92%, but I didn't study." Lan felt proud as he thought of how impossible it would have been to have gotten that grade on any test a few years back."  
"Humph, well, good for you then." Dex suddenly became very interested in his right hand's fingernails, which he had bitten off.  
Lan turned and looked ahead, walking down the sandstone-colored sidewalk. Maylu turned slightly and joined Lan's side of the group. She reached her hand out and gripped Lan's, who held it tightly.  
They continued to walk in silence, until Yai spoke up and said, "Hey, how about we all meet up at ACDC Square at about 4:00?"  
The rest of the group nodded back to her, as the group split into three groups: Dex, Yai, and Lan and Maylu. Dex parted to the left, Yai to the right, and Maylu and Lan continued straight. Lan and Maylu had been next-door neighbors for as long as they could remember. Although they had always had feelings for one-another, they never told anyone.  
Roll and Megaman, who had not spoken much that day, were suddenly talkative.  
"Hey Lan and Megaman, how about you jack into our PC at 4:00? After all, we do have that new shortcut to ACDC Square." Said Roll, cheerfully.  
"That's a good idea, Roll." Said Maylu. "Hey Lan, how about it? Wanna come over today at around 3:50?"  
"Sounds good to me." Said Megaman in his slightly electronic- sounding voice.  
"Okay then." Said Lan. "I'll be over then."  
Maylu gave Lan's hand a squeeze and looked back at Lan as he went into his house as she continued on to the next door down the street.  
"Good afternoon, Sweetie." Said Mom, looking happy. "How was your day?"  
"Good, Mom, thanks for asking. I've got to do some of my homework though before I go over to Maylu's. We're meeting up with the group at ACDC Square, and she has a new shortcut to get there. I'll tell you more about it when I get back home." With that, Lan went upstairs.  
  
After nearly an hour of homework Lan went over to Maylu's house. He knocked on the door, and Maylu's Mom answered.  
"Why hello there, Lan and Megaman. How are you?"  
"Pretty good, thanks. How's yourself?"  
"Pretty good myself, I suppose. I've ordered a new fan that's connected to the internet. It's supposed to be really efficient. It turns itself on periodically to keep the room temperature at the same heat. Well, I mustn't keep you waiting, Maylu's upstairs waiting for you."  
"Thank you." Lan walked inside.  
Maylu's house had always been fun to enter, because each time he found something else he liked about it. The colors of the house all seemed to compliment one another, and the equipment was all new and shiny.  
Lan walked upstairs to find Maylu sitting on her computer chair with Roll, still inside her PET, in her hands. Lan knocked on the open door to get her attention. She turned, smiled sweetly as if saying something which words cannot describe, and hugged him. Lan hugged her back and felt full of affection and care. He really loved her, and he couldn't imagine what would happen if he let her get hurt...or worse: heart-wrenched.  
"Hi, Lan!" Maylu said.  
"Hey. What's crackin'? Lan said, smiling as Maylu giggled at his expression.  
"Nothing really, just finishing my geometry homework."  
The two sat down, Maylu in her chair and Lan on the blue-carpeted floor. After looking at each other for a few moments, Maylu laughed quietly and walked over to him and said, "I really do love you, Lan." as she sat down in his lap. Lan fell over backwards, acting comical now, and Maylu let out a laugh as she pulled him back up.  
Once sitting upright again, Lan said "I love you to, Maylu."  
They sat like that for a few minutes until Roll and Megaman chimed at the same time, "Lan, Maylu, 4:00!"  
"Thanks." Said Lan and Maylu together, looking down at their Navi's.  
Both turned looking out the door as the doorbell sounded. They could faintly hear "Oh! Thank you, sir! I'll plug it in right away. Oh, I've waited for this fan for AGES!"  
"Let's jack in, shall we?" said Lan.  
"Yes, let's." And the couple started laughing as they always did.  
  
Meanwhile, World Three's leader, Dr. Wily, had come up with another one of his plans.  
"Mwahahaha! This is it, Megaman! Time to face your worst nightmare!" He cackled on continuously.  
  
"Jack in! Megaman, power up!"  
"Jack in! Roll, power up!"  
Megaman and Roll sped onward until reaching Maylu's homepage. Having been on it so many times, Megaman knew like he did Lan's. The duo walked toward the transporter located to their right. About 30 feet from the transporter, Megaman stopped abruptly.  
"Megaman, what's the mat---"  
She was cut short by the massive hand that closed upon her mouth. The hand belonged to a large, blue Navi equipped with a large fan on his chest.  
"Airman! What are you doing here! You were supposed to have been deleted!" Megaman shouted, aiming his buster automatically at him.  
Airman just looked down at him and said in his low voice, "Taking a hostage, orders of Dr. Wily."  
  
Airman: logging out  
  
Megaman ran to spot where Airman had been moments before, vanished. Roll gone with him.  
Lan looked up from his PET's screen at Maylu, whose eye's were wide open, tears in her eyes.  
Lan saw a single tear run down Maylu's cheek. His heart stopped. This was what he feared most: Maylu's agony. His jaw dropped, trying to say something but no words would come out. Finally, he just hugged her. He sat there and hugged her for 10 minutes. When Maylu turned and looked at him, her face still red, Lan said simply, "I'll bring her back. I promise." Silently, he bent over and kissed her. He left the room, in such silent rage that boiled up inside of him, and was determined to find Wily and make him pay. 


	2. Destination

[A/N] Goodness me, folks, I'm sorry I haven't updated for some ungodly time now...I've been obsessing over Megaman Battle network 3 and 4. I'm going to write chapter 3 as soon as this is posted. Sorry if it's not as LanMaylu-ish as the previous chapter, but chapter 3 will be more romance- packed. For all of you out there who love reading about Lan and Maylu stories, they do kiss once in this chapter. Thanks again, --Commander Beef (P.S. Some of the chip effects were from NT Warrior on WB, by the way.)  
  
Chapter II: Destination  
  
Lan walked quietly down the steps from Maylu's room. At the bottom of the stairs he peered around to see if Maylu's mom was anywhere in sight. She was 20 feet away, puzzling over her now smoking fan: no doubt due to Airman. He silently opened the door, walked out, and closed it again without making a noise. He didn't want a confusion that involved Maylu's mother; this was his own business he had to deal with.  
Still holding his breath, Lan snapped on his roller blades and skated down the streets towards the Metro station. He decided to go to Scilab to jack in because it had the most advanced technology, and because it was a common nerve for World Three to attack. He might as well go there until he had thought of a better plan.  
  
On the train, Lan had no one to talk to. He didn't even care to talk to Megaman, who was also sullen. He didn't want to draw any attention to himself, knowing that if he did, he'd have to talk and explain himself. Right now, Lan just wanted to sit and think to himself about the day's events.  
Absent-mindedly, Lan reached into his left pocket where Maylu's hand had been a few hours before. This comforted him greatly, and gave him the energy to talk to some extent.  
"Hey, Megaman. Do have any clue where Airman could be? I mean, the old WWW base was destroyed years ago, so I have no leads. And I can't ask Dad for help, he'd say 'It's too dangerous, don't get involved.' like he always does, you know?"  
Megaman looked up from staring down into his PET. "I really haven't a clue. But don't worry, we've always seemed to pull this kind-of thing off, right? So I think it'll wind up to fine. Anyway, think optimistic."  
"Believe me, I want to. It's just that it's so hard to get back out of this shock you know? Years ago, World Three was stopped. And then, all of a sudden, it's back up and running again. Even worse, Wily's thought farther ahead this time and decided his first target would be me."  
"Well, I guess that you could think of that as an incredibly cruel compliment. I mean, he picked you first because you're the one that always screws up his plans, right?" Megaman scratched the back of his head and smiled uncertainly.  
Just then, the train started to slow down to a stop at Scilab station. Lan walked off onto the station platform and headed up the stairs at the back of the room.  
He emerged to find himself standing in a very bright lobby, full of ingenious contraptions and bustling Scilab employees. Everything seemed to have a purpose in the functioning of the site. All the machines were newly polished and shined brightly.  
Lan walked through the dense crowd mingling in the lobby to reach the virus lab where he planned to jack in. The personnel merely glanced at him before returning to work.  
He continued on and looked for a good, unobtrusively placed port where he could jack in. He still wanted to remain unnoticed because, although he could talk, he wasn't in the right state-of-mind to create a false story explaining why he was there.  
While walking around searching for the right port, Lan looked around the lab at the diagrams, virus scans, and data being displayed on the large screens about him.  
Regaining his train of thought, Lan continued looking for the port. There, in a shadowy corner was a port on the opposite side of the room from the workers.  
"Jack in, Megaman, and be careful. Remember, we're looking for help locating the WWW base."  
"That might be difficult," said Megaman, "The only place that I know of that might have threads of knowledge about that subject is in the Undernet." Megaman shuddered.  
"Well." Lan sighed. "I guess look around Beach Area first. There is that portal to the Undernet there, of course, it's accompanied by some UnderNavis. Look on the Beach Square BBS first too."  
"I'm on it." Said Megaman as his data was transferred into the internet.  
Megaman sped on through the connection until he reached the warp- point in the Scilab Square. He stepped out from it and looked around, searching for a Navi that looked like they could help.  
"No good here, Lan." Said Megaman form his PET. "No one here looks like they can help out, no suspicious-looking Navis.  
"Hmm. Well, look on the BBS there than while you're there at least." Said Lan, trying to keep his voice down."  
"'K."  
Megaman jogged over to the BBS and looked for the most recent entry. Maybe he'd find out something about those fans hooked up to the net?  
There, at the top of the BBS screen, was an entry simply entitled as 'fans'. Megaman read the entry aloud so that Lan could hear:  
  
"I heard of a new type of fan that's linked up to the internet. Does it  
work well?"  
  
Once Megaman had finished reciting the entry, a voice came from behind him. "Looks like you're taking up housekeeping lessons, eh, Megaman?  
Megaman swirled around to where the voice had been coming from. There stood Protoman, Chaud's Navi. His sword was blazing on his right hand as he just stood there, fixated on Megaman.  
"Protoman, what are you doing here?"  
"None of your business, kid."  
"Of course it is! Airman who was hiding in one of those new house appliance fan things stole Maylu's Navi! I'm trying to find out where Airman is."  
"Hmph. Well, Chaud, should we fill them in?" Said Protoman.  
"Sure, go ahead." Replied Chaud from his PET.  
"OK. So, kid. You say you're looking for Airman? We're on the same mission of sorts. We've been instructed to find Airman and delete him. So far, he's burnt down a total of 16 houses by transferring from the fan to the house's computer. There, he infects the computer and cranks the temperature up high so that paper and flammable things combust. We know World Three's up to something."  
"Great. So, uh, Protoman. Do we have any leads as to where he is?"  
"Listen, kid, there is no 'we' in this. Anyway, Airman's two fast to track. And somehow he manages to transfer into the other fans to infect more houses. The only way I see it is that someone has to jack into a fan after purchasing one before he infects the house. Right now, though, we have no clue as of where he is. I wouldn't be surprised if he's taking a break from infecting homes."  
"OK, I think that's all that we need to get started. Jack out, Lan?"  
"Works for me." Said Lan into his PET.  
As Lan turned from the computer from jacking out, he noticed that something smelled like an overheating motor.  
He looked around; no one was there. The employees had departed, and there was a sense that something was wrong.  
He walked out of the lab and looked around the lobby. He just caught sight of a straggling employee hurrying towards the elevators, and went out of sight.  
By now the smell had become more intense. People visiting were being ushered onto the station platform.  
In an effort not to be heard, Lan crept quietly to the elevator compartment, which was now waiting open for him. He slipped inside and pressed the '5' button, where his father was working in his lab. While riding up, Lan snapped on his roller blades, thinking to himself about how he was going to react when he told Dad what had happened only an hour before.  
The doors opened slowly, and Lan began skating slowly do the hallway, still thinking about what he was going to do.  
Suddenly he heard a crash as if something metal had fallen and clattered to the floor. He whirled around to see what the commotion was. He noticed that scientists were clambering onto ladders and into the air vents.  
"Excuse me, sir." Lan said, quietly to a man who looked more patient than the rest. "But do you know if my dad is here?"  
"I'd tell you if I knew who your dad was. What's your last name, son?"  
"Hikari."  
"Oh! Yes, Dr. Hikari is already in the vents. He was the first person in."  
"Is there anything wrong with the air vents?"  
"Yes, actually. It seems as though there's a malfunction that's causing the A/C computer to malfunction. Hmph, I never learned this in training, so I'm a little less worried than the others." He swept his hand across to show Lan the mob of eager employees.  
Lan wasn't sure how to react. He decided to approach the matter with a worried tone in his voice: to sound dramatic and increase his chances of getting what he wanted.  
"Umm, si-ir." Lan's voice quavered. "Is there any way that I can talk to my da-dad?"  
Taken aback, the man struggled to regain his poise. "We have a way of communication, but a virus got into it when we were recharging them before the mission started."  
"How do you communica-ate?" Lan asked, trying really hard not to laugh.  
"Walkie-talkies."  
"Can I see one, p-please?"  
"Sure thing, kid-o."  
Lan took the walkie-talkie from his hands. It seemed more advanced than the ones that could be bought in an appliance store. It had a little radar map on the top of the gray machine.  
Lan searched desperately for a hole to jack into. 'I overdid it a bit,' he thought to himself, 'but I really want to talk to Dad.'  
Finding a port, he whispered, "Jack in, Megaman. Kick the keisters of those viruses."  
"You got it."  
Megaman sped through the wire of the PET to land on the surface of the machine's computer. Looking around, he saw two programs. Both were looking terrified as 5 mettuar surrounded them.  
Megaman raised his Mega-buster and whispered to Lan, "Lan, I think a Spreader chip should do the trick here."  
"You got it. Spreader chip, in. Download!"  
Megaman's buster became a large blaster; he could feel the power welling up in his arm.  
"Take this!" Cried Megaman, as he let loose an energy pellet. The energy slammed into the group of mettuar and exploded. The viruses were instantly deleted.  
The walkie-talkie started to make static and a little red blip started to show up on the screen.  
"Good job, Megaman. Let's jack out for now."  
"Roger, Lan."  
Lan began to search for buttons that may allow for him to communicate with the search team. Finding a button on the side, Lan held it down as the sounds of people emitted from the device.  
One of the team said, "Dr. Hikari, how much longer until we reach the computer? I'm starting to get a cramp in my lower back from crawling."  
Someone who sounded unmistakably like Dad replied, "Not much now, there's a cross-way of vents coming up ahead. I think it'll be there.  
Then, the sound of a click echoed throughout the vents.  
"What was that?" Asked one of the group members.  
"I don't know, Bill." Said Dad in return.  
Then the sound of air came blasting through the walkie-talkie.  
"Augh!"  
"I've never married!"  
"Help!"  
"Oh my God!"  
The roar of air deafened the cries of the team. Above Lan, the metal, which lined the air vents, depressed slightly and then reshaped to its normal position.  
Out of the hole in the ceiling came a group of 4 people. One of which was Dad. All of which were piled up in a heap. Groans came from inside of the pile as a red-haired woman poked her head out from the mound.  
Dad, who had seen Lan, tried to get to his feet. He failed, and collapsed again. Lan rushed to help him up.  
"Dad, are you okay?"  
"Yea, I'm fine. What are you doing here, anyway?"  
"I needed help with finding someone. But I think I know where his is though." Lan glared up at the ceiling again. He knew who was causing this; it was obvious, really. It just really pissed him off that World Three always had to get involved at the most obtrusive times. Airman was apparently controlling the venting system for reasons Lan did not know. He knew that if he could get to Airman, he'd be able to get to Roll.  
"Hey, Dad?" Lan began. "Is there another way to get to the air venting system other than climbing through the vents?"  
"Yes, there's a control panel on the 4th floor that connects to it. But, Lan, please don't do anything stupid."  
Lan decided to ignore this last plea. He knew that he had to do it, but he was too determined to save Roll that he didn't want to answer his dad.  
Lan turned on his heels, snapped on his roller blades, and skated off down the corridor again towards the elevator. Behind him, he could just make out the words of "Hey, you can't skate in here!"  
Lan reached the elevator and mashed the button for 'up'. He was, by this time, so transfixed on saving Roll that he didn't care what happened as long as Maylu was happy again. If Maylu was sad, Lan's own life began to deteriorate into misery.  
Megaman, who had remained quiet for a while, spoke up again while they rode the elevator up to the 4th floor.  
"You know, Lan, Airman's probably gonna be expecting us. We should probably start to unpack some effective chips and get them ready."  
"I guess you're right." Lan said into his PET screen. "What chips do you suggest?"  
"Some Hicannons and chips for the Life Sword Program Advance."  
"Why the cannons, though?"  
"He'll probably try to keep us from getting close enough to use the program advance by blowing us away. I plan on using the Hicannons to knock him back to give us enough time to use Life Sword on him."  
"Good thinking, Megaman." Lan reached into his backpack and pulled out two Hicannon chips and a Sword, Widesword, and Longsword chip. 'Megaman has a good plan.' Lan thought to himself. 'I just hope that the Hicannons work. I understand why he wanted to use them. M-cannons take too long to set up, and regular cannons aren't packed with enough power. I'll just have to trust him.'  
The familiar ding of the elevator brought Lan back from his thoughts. He got up off of the floor, packed his bag again, and walked out into a bright rooms filled with computers.  
He sat down at a vacant panel off to the side of the room and tried not to make eye contact with any of the other workers. Right now, he wanted to get in and out and back to ACDC as fast as possible. The thought of Maylu upset was become harder for him to bear now.  
"Here you go, Megaman. You know what to do."  
"Gotcha. Here goes."  
Megaman raced through an array of colors to land in the network of the air system. Without hesitation, Megaman ran towards a cowering program.  
"Excuse me." Said Megaman." But do you have any idea if a big, blue Navi came through here?"  
"Ov-ver th-there." Whimpered the program.  
Seeing where the program was pointing, Megaman raced headlong in the indicated direction.  
Seeing a Navi's figure in the distance, Megaman slowed down to a halt.  
"Lan. There's Airman, do you have the chips ready yet?" Asked Megaman.  
"Yep, right here. I'm set. How about you, Megaman?"  
"As good as I'll ever be."  
"Let's do this thing, then."  
Megaman started running again. He shouted, "Hicannon, Lan!" His left arm became a large, blue cannon. He aimed as the figure of Airman turned around and laughed.  
"Puny Navi. Do you really think that you can delete me with a measly cannon?"  
"Nope." Said Megaman.  
"Mega!" Yelled Roll.  
Megaman leapt into the air a let loose a barrage of blasts. Airman blew many of them away, but couldn't hold all of them back. A stray blast flew into Airman's chest. He flew backwards and onto the ground, temporarily stunned.  
"Quick! Lan, Program Advance!"  
"Let's do it!" Said Lan, forgetting his ploy to remain unnoticed.  
Megaman felt his left arm form into a short blade, while his right formed into a sword with a larger point. "Longsword!" Cried Megaman, as he reached up and made the two swords emerge into a blazing blue sword. Megaman swung down upon the ground with all his might, as a wave of energy flew from its tip. It collided with such a force upon Airman that he flew back high into the air. The words that fell from his mouth were, "Please forgive me, Dr. Wily..." were only barely heard as he disappeared into thin air.  
Megaman collapsed, and breathed heavily. Program Advances took a lot of energy from the Navi who used it.  
Regaining his balance, he walked over to Roll, who looked in mix expression between horror, affection, and relief. Megaman snapped the bonds that help Roll, and she jumped up and hugged Megaman.  
"Oh, Mega. Thank you." Whispered Roll.  
Megaman was too exhausted to reply, but he still hugged her back in return. When she released him, Megaman said, "You'd better get back to Maylu, we don't want World Three to pop up again any time soon. I'll be fine, go ahead."  
Roll looked at Megaman with an expression of deepest affection before jacking out.  
"Hey, Lan. Should I jack out now?"  
"Yeah. Let's go home."  
As Lan got up from his chair, he realized that everyone in the room was crowding around him. Apparently they had heard the NetBattle since Lan had spoken rather loudly to Megaman during the fight.  
Looking embarrassed, Lan pushed his way through the crowd and to the elevator.  
  
When Lan walked from the Metro Station and into the Park, they found Maylu running towards him. Instead of slowing down, Maylu ran into Lan and knocked him over. She was sobbing and laughing at the same time as she looked down at Lan as she lay on top of him. She smiled that smile that Lan so adored, and kissed him.  
  
So there's Chapter 2 for ya! Please tell me what you think. Again, I'm sorry that it took this long to update. My bad... )) 


End file.
